


Preferential Treatment

by Ceia



Series: A Cookbook of Salad Recipes [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: AU, F/M, Genderbending, Post-Timeskip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-03
Updated: 2013-10-03
Packaged: 2017-12-28 08:31:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/989911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ceia/pseuds/Ceia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Knowing that any beautiful woman wants something of his - be it affection, or as in this case his cooking - is what Sanji lives for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Preferential Treatment

He sits with his elbow on the kitchen worktop, his chin in his palm and a cigarette loose between his lips. The smoke occasionally dances in front of his eyes like transparent milk pouring from a jug, but he can still see her through it, and doesn't bother to wave it away. Couldn't move even if he wanted to, actually, because he's been watching Luffy for a while now and feels like he's stuck where he is until she finishes and asks for something else.

Her teeth sink into soft bread and the crust flakes on her lips and a little on her lap. She eats voraciously as ever without making a grotesque event out of it, devouring the gourmet pulled pork sandwich with an almost loving concentration - unlike before, when food was wolfed down and appreciated with a rumbling belch and an exhausted groan of contentment. Her toes curl into her sandals beneath the table with every bite, and when she finishes the sandwich she licks every fingertip and looks over to Sanji, nothing but joy in her eyes.

It's a look which makes this long, lazy smile pull on his mouth and something warm and fond stir inside him. He asks if it was good just because he loves the way she fervently nods her head, how it makes her hair swish and scatter over her shoulder. She's cute without being a shitty little brat about it, and Sanji wants so much to give her everything in these rare, silent moments they share when somehow there's just the two of them.

While it was initially strange to be serving his captain in the same way that he serves Nami and Robin, Sanji is physically incapable of denying any lady who requests something in his presence. Shade from an overbearing sun? Why, I'll grab you a parasol, Nami. Turning the last page on a cliffhanger ending? Here's the sequel, Robin, let me put this one back in the library for you.

With Luffy, he doesn't even need to ask. She says "Another chocolate fudge sundae, Sanji!" or "Thirty more drumsticks, Sanji!" or, quite simply, "More food, Sanji!" without any prompt at all.

And where once he would scowl and tut and scold the lack of manners - refuse purely on the basis of his captain being a man - Sanji provides Luffy with whatever she asks for without hesitation now, and it's beginning to feel normal. Which is a relief, to be honest, because after that first day back on Sabaody he'd been afraid of never being able to even exist in Luffy's presence like a normal human being again.

Right now it is lunchtime. On this occasion, when everyone else has left, Luffy has decided to sit in the kitchen, bat her eyelashes at Sanji and ask for another sandwich. She really doesn't even need to look at Sanji or pay him any attention at all for her request to be enthusiastically granted. But Sanji can sort of tell that she enjoys it - enjoys being able to ask for things that were previously out of bounds - and he is helpless when it comes to indulging a woman.

The fluttering of longer eyelashes, the smile on sheer pink lips (must've borrowed some of Robin's lipgloss) makes his heart skip a beat and swell with the desire to serve her. He knows this. Luffy knows this. Sanji thinks she came to realise pretty quickly when they came back onto Sunny that the smallest of gestures led to the nicest of snacks, although having said that... well, he would've served her only the finest anyway. Ladies get nothing but the best after all.

Because one doesn't have to know Sanji for very long to realise that he falls over himself to indulge women. And yet with Luffy he does not quite fall over himself, nor does he make such obvious eyes or gestures at her as he does the other girls (partly because she outright laughs at him when he does).

He has not even nicknamed her like the other two; Luffy is still Luffy, and though she didn't (would never) have to prove herself, she absolutely asserted her status as captain following her fight with Hody Jones.

For all of those amazing curves, for all of those sweet smiles and long eyelashes, Sanji cannot bring himself to treat her the way he does the others because somehow it is strange and somehow it is just different with her.

It's as though he's gotten caught between his apathy towards men and his chivalry for woman, and the mixture has resulted in something all at once gentlemanly and passionate, respectful and profoundly appreciative. He does not overstep any lines with Luffy while still devoting himself to serving her; never once has Nami had to smack him away from her, a feat which Sanji has almost come to pride himself on.

He pulls a fresh loaf from the oven and glances over his shoulder when Luffy makes a happy sound, the scent of baked bread apparently pleasing to her even without its condiments. it takes a few seconds to knock up a sandwich, but here Sanji takes his time a little because he knows that Luffy is watching him, all piqued interest and craning her neck to look at what he's doing across the counter. He likes it, the feel of her eyes on his back so curious to see what he's doing.

Knowing that any beautiful woman wants something of his - be it affection, or as in this case his cooking - is what Sanji lives for.

With the flourish of a chef who cares so much for his guest he quietly slides the silver platter in front of her, careful to keep the plates upon it steady to preserve their presentation. Sanji is not quite close enough to press against her back, but he is close enough to catch the unchanging scent of ocean on her, and to lower his voice to a murmur and know Luffy will still hear him.

Savouring this rare moment of closeness, he says, "Served with salad niçois, gruyere cheese, and-"

Luffy leans up to kiss his cheek and steals the last of his sentence in doing so. "Sanji's sandwiches are the best," she whispers with a smile, and before Sanji can breathe she's all teeth and tongue tearing into her third lunch of the day.

A few minutes later when her plate is empty she looks up, blinking wide-eyed at the cigarette butt which has fallen on the floor. Luffy then looks over to the open doorway, and realises that Sanji has gone.

Huh. That's funny. Come to think of it, Luffy might've heard something that sounded a heck of a lot like a thud just outside the kitchen a few moments ago. And those long black things on the floor do kinda look like legs...

"Ooooiiiiii! He's fainted again!" Luffy calls out. There's a collective groan which comes from somewhere out on deck, and Luffy grins helplessly, legs swinging beneath the chair, at the familiarly exasperated look Nami gives her before she drags Sanji's lifeless body away.

But it's only when she knows that nobody else is around that Luffy's grin softens, and in a habit adopted unconsciously from a certain snake princess, she clasps her hands to her face and giggles.

Sanji is _adorable._


End file.
